Search Configuration Not Taking

[bjmaynard01]

I am trying to configure my LC instance to use my local searxng instance for search. I have configured the webSearch field in librechat.yaml and configured the SEARXNG_INSTANCE_URL in my .env file. I have confirmed that the env variables are loading correctly in the container with printenv. However, when I go to turn on web search in the tools menu, I get prompted to configure my search engine. This was serper for forever no matter what I did, but blowing away my redis and mongo data and rebuilding finally got that form to change over to SearXNG. But, even if I put in my URL for my searxng instance and hit save, it does not enable the web search, i.e. the web search icon does not turn blue, and when clicked again, it prompts for the user config again, and although the URL for my searxng instance is saved, I cannot search against it. My model is unable to do a web search.

Snippet from librechat.yaml:
webSearch: searchProvider: searxng searxngInstanceUrl: "${SEARXNG_INSTANCE_URL}" safeSearch: 0

Snippet from .env:
SEARXNG_INSTANCE_URL=https://xxxx.xxxxxxx.xxxx <redacted> SEARXNG_API_KEY= SEARCH=true SERPER_API_KEY= FIRECRAWL_API_KEY= FIRECRAWL_API_URL= JINA_API_KEY= COHERE_API_KEY=

[danny-avila]

If using redis, you need to flush the cache with librechat.yaml changes.

Please look over:

https://www.librechat.ai/docs/configuration/librechat_yaml/object_structure/web_search

[bjmaynard01]

Web Search Configuration Not Saving or Persisting — Modal Keeps Reappearing

Summary:
Despite fully configuring LibreChat’s web search integration with SearXNG via environment variables, user settings, and database updates, the frontend still prompts the modal and does not persist the toggle when trying to enable web search via the Tools menu.

---

✅ Environment Setup

LibreChat version: v0.7.9
Branch: main
Deployment method: Docker Compose
Frontend: Local, no reverse proxy
Search Provider: SearXNG (self-hosted)

---

🧾 .env Snippet (sanitized)

HOST=192.168.130.49
PORT=3080
MONGO_URI=mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/LibreChat
REDIS_URI=redis://default:********@redis:6379

# Required endpoints
ENDPOINTS=custom,openAI,agents

# Web Search Config
SEARXNG_INSTANCE_URL=https://<my-searxng-instance>
SEARCH=true

---

🧾 librechat.yaml (search section removed)

The file includes only the model and endpoint configuration. No webSearch: block is present — this avoids redundancy and defers to .env for config.

---

🧾 Docker Compose Override (env_file mounted)

services:
  api:
    env_file:
      - .env
    depends_on:
      - mongodb
      - redis

---

✅ MongoDB User Document

After first login, the following manual patch was applied via mongosh:

db.users.updateOne(
  { email: "<myuseremail>" },
  {
    $set: {
      "settings.search": {
        searchProvider: "searxng",
        searxngInstanceUrl: "https://<my-searxng-instance>",
        searxngApiKey: "",
        reranker: "",
        scraper: "",
        enabled: true
      },
      webSearch: true
    }
  }
)

Verification returns:

{
  "settings": {
    "search": {
      "searchProvider": "searxng",
      "searxngInstanceUrl": "https://<my-searxng-instance>",
      "enabled": true
    }
  },
  "webSearch": true
}

---

❌ Current Behavior

• Tools → Web Search prompts modal every time
• Modal now shows a dropdown (SearXNG + Serper) — this is new
• Filling out modal and hitting Save does not persist anything
• Trying to toggle Web Search returns to the modal loop
• Mongo settings are unchanged after submitting the modal
• Tried with:
  • Multiple browsers
  • Fresh devices
  • Fresh Docker containers
  • Fresh MongoDB and Redis
  • Latest build from main

---

✅ Expected Behavior

• Once SEARXNG_INSTANCE_URL is defined in .env, and searchProvider is set in the user’s Mongo doc, the UI should not require further configuration
• The Tools toggle should persist and show as "on"
• Web search should function without re-prompting

---

🔁 Reproducible Steps

1. Deploy LibreChat via Docker Compose with SEARCH=true and SEARXNG_INSTANCE_URL defined
2. Remove webSearch: block from librechat.yaml
3. Login as a user (e.g., [email protected])
4. Patch user in Mongo with settings.search.enabled = true and webSearch: true
5. Open Tools → Web Search
6. Try to enable the toggle → modal appears again

---

🧨 Hypothesis

Frontend is not syncing webSearch state with backend settings.search. Even if the MongoDB config is correct, the Vue component forces the modal unless a frontend-only update occurs — and the modal itself does not persist changes back to Mongo.

---

🙏 Help Requested

• Is there a known way to skip or override this modal loop?
• Is this a regression in settings.store.ts or the Tools.vue flow?
• Should we manually seed defaultSettings.search at user creation?
• Is there a log file or method that is recommended to let me see what is happening and address it if it might be a local anomaly?

Happy to provide logs, test patches, or PR feedback.

[jjsmackay]

Can confirm I am observing the same behaviour - though my setup does not include redis.